Accessibility Links

After The Deluge

Pakistan’s donors should look beyond the desperation to the need for basic services

August 24 2010, 1:01am, The Times

Three weeks after catastrophic flooding began to consume Pakistan, the level of donations is rising. That is an appropriate response to this disaster. Even though flood waters are stabilising in some areas, the numbers affected continue to soar.

About 1,600 have been killed, and nearly 17 million directly affected. Many are living in rough shelters without food and clean water. Cholera is hovering at the edges of these camps. As The Times reports today, floods now threaten the rice crop. Those who have fled and now try to return will lack homes or livestock.

The UN has announced that donations have now reached 70 per cent of its target of £300 million. In the UK, relief agencies say that the public has given £29 million.…